About

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About

Photo by Ashley Woo

Welcome!

I'm Suleika Jaouad or, as my childhood friends call me, Susu. I’m a writer, an Emmy Award-winning New York Times Well columnist, a cancer survivor and a mother to a badly behaved rescue mutt named Oscar.

Welcome to my home on the web. I’m very grateful that you care enough to be here. If you were at my real home, I'd offer you snacks. Here, I can only offer you articles, videos and information about my upcoming events.

NYT Column

NYT Column

When I graduated from college in 2010, my dream was to become a war correspondent and to report on the revolutions taking place in the Middle East. When I got diagnosed with cancer at age 22, my world dwindled to four beige walls, a hospital bed and an IV pole I nicknamed 'The Leaning Tower of Chemo.' I couldn’t travel to any foreign war zones so instead I began reporting from the front lines of my hospital bed on a different kind of revolution.

Other Writing

Video

Video

I've always thought of myself as someone who would be behind the camera, not in front of it. I was nervous when I first teamed up with videographer Shayla Harris for the the New York Times "Life, Interrupted" video series accompanying my column. It's been an empowering experience to be able to tell stories, both on paper and on video.

Events

Events

I travel around the country teaching writing workshops and I regularly speak at conferences, universities, hospitals, corporations, fundraisers and professional events. I’m dedicated to motivating and helping others to cope with their own adversity.

Press + Praise

Press + Praise

I have been featured on NPR's Talk of The Nation and All Things Considered, NBC's Weekend Today Show, Ken Burns’ PBS documentaryThe Emperor of All Maladies, CBS News, The Paris Review, Vogue, Into The Gloss, The Los Angeles Times and Darling Magazine.

Contact

Contact

I'd love to meet you! The best places to connect with me are at my events or on Facebook and Twitter. I am also an avid Instagram user. If you'd like to invite me to come speak, get in touch with me here.